Face Validation Method Alternatives for Shiphandling Fuzzy Logic Difficulty Model

The development of shiphandling difficulty model for ferry is based on the empirical experience through the Master of Ro-Ro ferries. The SHDMF is consisted from two parts which are the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Inference System. Both parts had been validated through internal validation in the form of consistency test for the first part and robustness test for the second part. Further, the external/face validation is required to compare the proposed model with similar model through benchmarking approach. The benchmarking approaches are elaborated for the reliability, validity, possibility, efficiency and effectiveness. Through fuzzy group decision making method, the questionnaire survey is performed to verify the most appropriate approach based on the shiphandling simulator as the most preferred benchmarking tool by experts. Next, the proposed scenario is overviewed and discussed especially related to the advantages and drawbacks of shiphandling simulator. Keywords: shiphandling difficulty, fuzzy group decision making, internal validation Model pengukuran kesulitan pengendalian feri didasarkan pada pengalaman empiris melalui pernyataan nahkoda kapal feri Ro-Ro. SHDMF terdiri atas dua bagian, yaitu Analytic Hierarchy Process dan Fuzzy Inference System. Kedua bagian ini telah divalidasi melalui validasi internal dalam bentuk uji konsistensi untuk bagian pertama dan uji kehandalan untuk bagian kedua. Selanjutnya validasi atau wajah eksternal diperlukan untuk membandingkan model yang diusulkan dengan model yang diperoleh dari benchmarking. Pendekatan benchmarking dijabarkan untuk kehandalan, validitas, kemungkinan, efisiensi, dan efektivitas. Melalui metode fuzzy kelompok pembuatan keputusan, survei kuesioner dilakukan untuk memverifikasi pendekatan yang paling tepat dengan simulator pengendalian kapal sebagai alat yang paling disukai oleh para ahli untuk benchmarking. Selanjutnya skenario yang ditinjau-ulang dan dibahas terutama terkait dengan keuntungan dan kelemahan simulator pengendalian kapal. Kata

Marcus Garvey: A Legacy Obscured by Infamy

Marcus Garvey was a 20th century Jamaican civil rights leader. Garvey is noted for founding the Universal Negro Improvement Association in an effort to promote black pride as well as establish black economic independence through the creation of negro owned businesses. Despite the contributions he made to civil rights efforts, much of Garvey’s career was shrouded in controversy. Drawing on primary sources including letters written by Garvey and articles written by the foremost thinkers of the NAACP, this papers examines the numerous professional scandals in Garvey’s life, specifically his ties to white supremacy, poor relationships with other civil rights leaders, and his business failures

Garag sheep phenotype and husbandry in Um Hani area in the White Nile State, Sudan

Garag sheep phenotype and husbandry were studied in a survey of 295 animals at <1 - >4 years old in Um Hani area in the White Nile State, Sudan. Body weight (BW) and measurements generally increased with age from <1 to 4 years old. The tail was below the hock joint in most animals. The hair was short and rough and the coat colour varied and was mainly white (73.89% in females and 64.44% in males),  black and white (9.49% in females and 17.78% in males) and white and red (5.08% in females and 6.67% in males). The face profile was convex and the animals were polled. There were strong correlations between BW and measurements and different linear regression equations were used to predict BW from heart girth (HG), height at withers (HW) and body length (BL) with no significant differences between measured and predicted BW. Flock size was 80.78 and females formed most of the flocks (88.37%). Lambs were weaned at 4.24 months old. Age at puberty was 6.82 months in males and 7.2 months in females. Age at first service was 8.12 months in males and 7.96 months in females. Gestation period was 154.2 days. Lambing interval was 356.4 days and lambing was from August to September. Lactation period was 124.8 days and average milk yield was 0.37 kg/day. Longevity was higher in females (6.48 years) than males (3.8 years)

Genetic relationships of cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) genotypes as studied by morphological and molecular markers

Fifteen (15) morphological traits and three different types of molecular markers [inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR), simple sequence repeat (SSR) and expressed sequence tag (EST) markers] were used to study the genetic relationships among 24 cotton (Gossypium barbadense L.) genotypes (commercial varieties and new germplasm). High significant differences were observed among the genotypes for all the studied traits and the interaction between genotypes and years ranged from highly significant to significant for the most studied traits. The value of phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all studied traits which means that the apparent variation is not only due to genotypes but also due to the influence of environmental factors. The cluster analysis of the 24 cotton genotypes depending upon the morphological traits divided them into two main groups (A and B) while molecular data divided them into six groups. The cotton genotypes were distributed according to principal coordinate analysis (PCOORDA) analysis of both morphological traits and molecular markers regardless of their fiber characteristics. According to this analysis, the cotton genotypes were distributed into three distinct parts. Most molecular markers showed polymorphism in their patterns. The highest number of total and polymorphic bands was generated from ISSR markers while the least number of total and polymorphic bands was obtained from the ESTSSR markers. According to both morphological and molecular analyses, the following genotypes could be used to hybridize and produce high growth and yield potential: Giz87, Giza45, Giza88 and Giza70 as a first parent and Karshansky, Giza80, Giza83, Australian10229 and Russian6022 as a second parent in the cross.Keywords: Cotton, simple sequence repeat (SSR), expressed sequence tag (EST), inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR), morphological traits, cluster analysis, principal coordinate analysis (PCOORDA).African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(30), pp. 4736-474

Mathematical analysis of HIV/HTLV-I co-infection model with saturated incidence rate

Direct contact with specific contaminated body fluids is how both the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) are transmitted from one person to another. Therefore, the two viruses can co-infect same person. In the literature all the HIV/HTLV-I co-infection models assume that the infection rate is given by bilinear incidence. However, for high concentration of pathogens, the bilinear incidence is not suitable. Therefore, this study will focus on the dynamical behavior of an HIV/HTLV-I co-infection model with saturated incidence. The model includes the effect of Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) immune response. Through the non-negativity and boundedness of the solutions, we demonstrated that our proposed model is biologically acceptable. We calculate the threshold parameters which determine when the equibrium point exists and when it is globally asymptotically stable. Utilizing the Lyapunov function and Lyapunov-LaSalle asymptotic stability, we demonstrate the global asymptotic stability of all equilibrium. We performed numerical simulations to confirm the analytical solutions. The effect of saturation on The dynamics of HIV/HTLV-I co-infection are discussed

Review of sustainability in buildings

At present, it is estimated that the building sector contributes up to 45% of annual greenhouse gas emissions primarily through the use of fossil fuels during their operational phase and consumes up to 40% of all energy in UK. Given the massive growth in new construction in economies in transition, and the inefficiencies of existing building stock, if nothing is done, greenhouse gas emissions from buildings will be more than double in the next 20 years. This is a review paper describe the extent and nature of sustainable buildings in UK, either within new or refurbishing old ones, in order to move away from traditional methods of construction and to look at multi-disciplinary and integrated approaches, as well as end-user perspectives

Proton induced K-shell ionization cross sections for a wide range of elements (4 ≤ Z ≤ 92) within ECPSSR theory and updated experimental data

AbstractWithin the individual treatment of the elements from beryllium (4Be) to uranium (92U), the experimental databases are normalized to their corresponding values of the ECPSSR model to deduce the semi-empirical cross sections. These databases rely on the different compilations available in the literature and on the other data extracted from papers published from 1953 till 2010. In the present paper, a fourth order polynomial was used to fit very well the existing normalized database of K-shell ionization cross sections by proton. These procedures generate a new set of parameters for the sake of the quick calculation of the semi-empirical cross sections. A comparison is made between the deduced results and those obtained by using the ECPSSR model where a remarkable discrepancy is observed at low-proton velocity regime especially for the lightest elements

Active learning-based classification in automated connected vehicles

Machine learning has emerged as a promising paradigm for enabling connected, automated vehicles to autonomously cruise the streets and react to unexpected situations. A key challenge, however, is to collect and select real-time and reliable information for the correct classification of unexpected, and often uncommon, events that may happen on the road. Indeed, the data generated by vehicles, or received from neighboring vehicles, may be affected by errors or have different levels of resolution and freshness. To tackle this challenge, we propose an active learning framework that, leveraging the information collected through onboard sensors as well as received from other vehicles, effectively deals with scarce and noisy data. In particular, given the available information, our solution selects the data to add to the training set by trading off between two essential features: quality and diversity. The results, obtained using realworld data sets, show that our method significantly outperforms state-of-the-art solutions, providing high classification accuracy at the cost of a limited bandwidth requirement for the data exchange between vehicles